First of all, I think you need to define what you mean by "Heaven." What is it? How can you talk about something you only have a vague notion what is? I am aware of the ideas most people have about heaven. What is it really? And is it anything like the "cloud nine" fantasies that people say it is?

I think you also need to know what you mean by "hell." There are a lot of commonly accepted notions about hell as well, the most common being a fiery place of eternal torture in the bowels of the earth where people are punished for eternity.

I think all of these notions are false and inaccurate. So let me tell you how I think it works just from my own experience and then tell me if any of it rings true to you.

Jesus spoke of "Many mansions in my Father's house." I have always been struck by that phrase. Someone told me he thought Jesus was referring to spiritual homes "up there" where you can go and learn what you need to learn spiritually. So I tested it out in my own life and find it to be true. There really are spiritual homes where parts of can go and learn while you live, and all of you can go and learn when you die. It is "heaven" in the sense that you can face and learn things you need to learn. If you are really wanting to do right and face something, it is the answer to a prayer. If you are half hearted or unwilling, it might seem like hell to you.

I have found the spiritual homes to available 24/7/365 to anyone who wants to go and learn. There you have the opportunity to see what is going on in your life accurately, to weigh your motives, to see your flaws, to make needed changes in your life.

You can go when you sleep, or you can send a part of yourself in a tenth of a second. The spirit, unlike the body, moves and learns quickly. A part of you can go and come right back in an instant and be the wiser for you.

I think many people could greatly benefit from this continuous interaction. They would not get trapped in false choices or caught in evil schemes if they would do this. Their minds and hearts would function with greater clarity and they would be closer to their true life purposes.

Now I also believe there is a place of punishment "up there." It is really a division of the spiritual homes. YOu go there and get punished for things you are doing wrong, for mistakes you are making, for wrong things you are tolerating - really for anything. You go through hell until you change and want to learn.

The evil idea of hell is that a person is punished forever for mistakes he makes while he lives. This sounds like darkness to me. It is like me punishing my kids all their lives for mistakes they have made, regardless of whether they have faced where they wrong and changed. God is a wise God and punishes as is needed in the precise way that is needed. So, yes there is a hell that is immediate and transforming, but it is certainly not run the Devil. The idea that God would turn punishment over to the Devil shows you how twisted up mankind has become (and how strong evil has been) that people would believe that.

God does not pussy foot around with people in Hell. Hell can seem like eternity if you have been deeply involved in sin. But God sees our hearts, our minds and our motives and punishes not just for our acts (many of the people who do the outward evil in the world are not the perpetrators, but the victims), but for what we are doing spiritually and subconsciously. So it is important to strive to do right on all levels of consciousness, not just on the outward level.

That is my belief on heaven and hell. Rather than argue whether or not you agree with it, why not give it a practical test and see if there is anything to it? If it works at all for you then maybe there is something to it.

I am not trying to put down your belief in any way, but I feel compelled to comment. I commend you and others who have deep faith and strong beliefs in the Bible and Jesus and God.

Personally, I am agnostic. I freely admit that for me, I simply do not know. The existence of God or any other religious diety cannot be proven nor can it be disproven. One must take it on "blind faith" if they are believers. One must accept that the Bible is truly the word of God if they base their arguments on what is written there. I tend to question any document that has been written, re-written, translated, re-translated, by men from very ancient and primitive societies over hundreds of years. I find it an interesting historical text, but am unable to accept it at face value as the word of an all-powerful God.

I had a religious upbringing, attended Bible camps, went to church, and asked lots of questions. I came to my own conclusions over time and I am comfortable with them. If I am wrong, then so be it. If there is a kind and loving God out there, then I find it hard to believe He would reject people who have lived a good and decent life.

If I am right, and we are simply one form of life that lives out its life cycle with no afterlife, then it really doesn't matter. What matters is to live in the present, be kind to others, and try to make the world a better place for your having been here.

Here are my 2 questions for you to answer. Is Jesus the only way to heaven? Can people who do good in God's eyes, but who are not followers of Christ STILL go to heaven? And now, I have three words to clarify: pluralism, inclusivism, exclusivism. Before I clarify these words, think about your answers and after reading this, choose which of those words is what you believe, and then think, "Is what I believe right?" The first word: pluralism. A pluralistic answers yes to both of those questions. But if Jesus is the only way to heaven, then there is no other way, so pluralism is not accurate, in my opinion. You may think differently, and that's fine with me. This is just what I believe. Second word: inclusivism. Someone who is inclusivistic answers no to the first question, and yes to the second. But if these people believe the Bible is true, then they are incorrect. In John 14, Jesus says, I quote, "I am that way, the truth, and the life. There is no way to the father except through me." Even if they don't believe the Bible is true, I, personally, believe it is incorrect, as I am Christian, otherwise a charasmatic protestant. And, for the third word, (obviously the one I believe to be true...), exclusivism. Someone who is an exclusivistic, such as me would answer yes to the first and no to the second question. As I believe that what the Bible says is true, I believe this. You believe what you will, but evaluate the accuracy of your answers and reconsider if they are correct or incorrect. I am firm in my faith. I am a 13 year old from Pennsylvania, USA. My name is Catherine Stout. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

you cannot go to a christian heaven to be with a christian god unless you are a christian. If you are not a christian I can only imagine that you choose not to be one, so why (if you dont hang out with them down here) would you want to hang out with them for eternity. This, of course, would amount to your hell, you lucky, lucky thing you. Count your blessings.

This is a philosophy site so I'll go ahead and share my philosophy. Either: 1. Jesus is God and what he said is true. or 2. Jesus deceived millions (which could have happened) and he's a complete lier.

He could not have been a "good teacher or good person" because liers aren't often called that.

Now, I am a Christian. According to Christianity good people cannot get to heaven. Reason is simple, God is perfect, humans are sinful by nature. Sin and perfection (God) don't mix. Therefore if you try to just be good, you won't make it. You are still sinful. Now, for those who have never heard, God will judge them based upon their knowledge. If you are worried about them not getting to heaven, then maybe you should do something about it.

Catherine, it is true that Jesus is the only way to heaven, according to the Bible. For example, King David was a good and honest man who served God faithfully, yet according to the Bible he did not ascend to heaven. There are certain requirements for heaven that are outlined in the Bible and of course one of them is that you have faith in Jesus' ransom sacrifice.

In my opinion, yes, God exists. How can I prove it? Well it's not something you can stare at with your eyes. For example: I can prove God exists by a reflection of my own life. I pray to god and have total faith in Him, and my prayers are answered. Some will say it's just coincidence, but I choose to believe it's not. I have been blessed with so many things in my life that I know only God could have givven me. Also, weather you choose to ignore it or not, the Bible has prophesised a lot of things that have happened in history, and this whole thing in the Middle East was mentioned in the Bible. In fact, in the New testiment, the Bible describes the "end times" and the signs surrounding it. Almost all Bible scholars agree that everything that the Bible prophesised happening close to the "end times" has come true. According to many, there is nothing left that the Bible decribes has to happen until the glorious return of Jesus our Lord. If anyone wants to ignore that, than go right ahead, but don't say we didn't warn you. I truelly believe it won't be long until the rapture, and the end of the world as we know it is here. Call me a maniac, a phsyco, whatever. but I promise, someday you'll see. Here's another thing to think about. If God doesn't exist, then why and how are we all here? Do you honestly believe that all of this was just a big coincidence? That you are living by chance? To me, life in general seems too perfect to dismis as chance. And how or why would anyone be able to just make up everything the Bible says? I can't imagine someone one day just making everything up. Even things that a lot of Bible scholars can barely fathom. Is Jesus the only way to heaven? I believe absolutely. Don't be fooled by people telling you that if the good things you do in life outway the bad things, then you can go to heaven. No way. The Bible clearly says that JESUS is the ONLY way to Heaven in John 14:6 saying: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; NO MAN cometh unto the Father but BY ME." You can take it or leave it, but it's spelled out for you on the table, right in front of your eyes. Don't believe it? Well, that's your decision and your LOSS!

I'm not sure. I'd have to ask God.

I don't think that God is just what it says in the bible, I think God is more. Maybe God is something else. God is an extension of the human self and so maybe heaven is an extension of God's self. I have trouble believing in God because I have trouble grasping the literal heaven part. I have trouble believing that you can have a physical self after losing your life. If there is a heaven, I'll want to go.

I believe that Jeseus is not the only way TO hevean. And of course non-cristians can go to heaven. I am a Cistian. a muslim, a hindu, a jew and any other religion you can of. My brother is agnostic. So i know that in Islam they that you have to be muslim to enter heaven whereas in the Bible even an agnostic can go heaven AS LONG AS HE OR SHE ARE GOOD(OR TRY TO BE GOOD) PEOLE. So I believe in that bit of bible.

I think that using the terms "christians" and "heaven" are probably not very helpful. As wisdomsearch pointed out earlier the ideas that are generally held by people about ideas such as these, as well as "hell" and even "God" are in a lot of cases very misleading and leave us all arguing about something we don't even have very clear in our own minds. A "christian" in today's society can mean a great varietyof things, and can stretch to things that a follower of the teachings of Christ would not really like to be associated with. Also the idea of "getting to heaven" is really looking at things in the wrong way. To get to heaven should not be our motivation for the way we act or what we believe. How about making sense of this crazy world and our places in it before we begin thinking about the next one. Not that it isn't healthy to consider the glory that awaits us, but I don't believe that a lot of people are really in a position to do that or even have to capacity to really understand what that could mean. Christ taught that everyone on earth is a sinner, no matter how many good acts they performed. All were cut off from God without hope of redemption, regardless of the magnitude of their sin. That is why Christ came, to save the world from their sin, as he was the only sinless being in the world who could pay with his death for the entirety of humanities' sin. The point of heaven, whatever it is going to be like, is that we can aproach God, which in our previous sinful state we could not do because we were cut off from Him. God cannot stand sin, that is His nature. To say that sinful people who do good things can aproach God is not only to deny His very nature, but also to deny the need for Christ to die on the cross. What was the purpose of Him coming if we could live good lives and be right with God anyway. People were living "good" lives before Christ, yet He came to save the world regardless, because He knew they were all cut off from God because of their sinful natures. It is the sad truth of life that we all fall short of God if we try to get to Him in our own way. That is why, in His infinite love, He gave us a way out by sending His only Son to die. All we have to do is trust in Him. Which really, is much easier than trying all our lives to live up to something we can't possibly do.

In my opinion, Christianity is: be good, don't speak up, follow all the rules no matter what, and maybe you'll go to heaven. Who needs that stress? When you're dead, you're dead. I don't beleive in god, and I don't plan to in the future. I am tired of people yelling at me for not believing what they beleive. Well excuse me!